


Keep the Fire Burning

by raidelle



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, Dancing, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Requited Love, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Waltzing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 00:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14905055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raidelle/pseuds/raidelle
Summary: Gladio wanted so badly to ask Ignis for a dance. The problem was he didn't know how.





	Keep the Fire Burning

Gladio’s eyes tracked Ignis across the dance floor and for the umpteenth time that night, a ragged sigh rumbled from his chest.

“You should just ask him to dance, you know,” Noctis, who himself had just finished dancing with the daughter of Councilman Noventa, said in a soft voice yet matter-of-fact tone.

“What are you talking about?”

Noctis let out a snort that would have earned a disapproving glare had the Royal Advisor heard. “Specs,” the Prince said simply to his Shield.

Gladio looked about ready to argue, but thought better of it. Instead, he just let out another sigh. “I don’t know how.”

“Uh, excuse me. You and I attended the same dancing lessons. Expressly for this kind of event.” Noctis waved a careless hand around the ballroom, decked in white and gold and silver for the Grand Solstice Ball. “Madam Fantine loved you. ‘Oh I wish every student of mine was like you my dear. So nimble!’”

The falsetto earned a laugh from Gladio. He quickly turned somber, however, when Ignis and his partner glided past. “I don’t know how to ask him.” Gladio said after a while.

“Here, let me give you a few pointers. One, you walk up to him. Two, you say ‘Ignis, will you pretty please dance with me?’” Noctis deadpanned. “See? Not even three steps.”

“Funny,” Gladio replied sarcastically. His mood did not improve when he saw Ignis dip his partner so low that her hair brushed the floor. When Ignis brought her back up, she giggled; when Ignis lifted her hand for an air-kiss, she blushed. Gladio clenched his fists in a fit of irrational jealousy.

“Gladio. This is a Royal Decree. Go dance with Specs!” Noctis said, pushing at Gladio’s arms ineffectually.

Gladio grunted in annoyance, both at Noctis’s persistence and his own inability to ask such a simple question. “Pretty sure I can’t leave your side, Princess. Shield, remember,” he said through his teeth.

“Oh for Bahamut’s sake!” Noctis growled. He stomped toward Cor, who was seated at a nearby table, and Gladio had no choice but to follow.

When they reached the Marshal, Noctis planted himself resolutely on a chair beside the older man and said stubbornly, “Go dance with Specs.”

Gladio glanced at Cor, who gave him a pointed look and drank deeply from his lowball of whiskey. “You heard His Highness.”

Amber eyes sought out the lithe figure once more and found him sweeping his new partner into a series of graceful turns.

One dance, Gladio. One dance.

Squaring his shoulders, he first took a candle from one of the centerpieces and then, making sure the candle stayed lit, stalked toward Ignis with an unconscious predatory grace.

Ignis had his back to him, so it was the woman who caught Gladio’s purposeful look and led the dance to a stop. “I think someone wants to dance with you, Mr. Scientia.” She gave Ignis a bow and Gladio a gracious smile, then left.

Gladio watched as Ignis turned toward him, as if in slow motion. When he realized who it was who cut in, Ignis’s green eyes widened slightly behind his glasses. “Gladiolus,” he breathed.

“Dance with me?” Gladio said, holding the candle out to Ignis. A blush crept up Ignis’s cheeks as he accepted the candle, and Gladio did not know if it was because of the previous dance or because of this request for a new one. He hoped it were the latter.

As if taking cue from Gladio, the band struck the first note of a traditional Insomnian waltz. As one, the young men fell into step as if they had been doing this dance their whole lives. And in a way, they were. They had been brought together at a young age, lives committed to the Crown before they could comprehend what it truly meant. At first they were reluctant allies in shaping Noctis into a proper Prince, and then the best of friends as they discovered more and more about each other beyond a shared purpose.

This was a dance they had been performing for years. A dance to which only the two of them knew the exact steps. Steps that had led them to this blessed moment, bathed in the glow of candlelight held between their hands.

When the final note of the waltz sounded, after what seemed like an eternity of gazing into verdant eyes, Gladio sighed once more. He had gotten his one dance and now he craved another. And another, and another.

He wanted to dance with Ignis for the rest of his life.

Gladio made to move away, but to his delighted surprise, Ignis surged forward, standing up on tiptoes to lay a gentle kiss on his lips.

His last view before he closed his eyes to savor the kiss was the warmth and light of love in Ignis’s eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> The waltz with the candle was inspired by a similar scene in Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak.
> 
> Say hello to me on Tumblr! I'm raidelle there, too. :)


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